Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 132 – Rubber
“Lusha.”
Originally, Owen didn’t want to disturb him, but he was just too curious about the origin of the ball in the little lizard child’s hand.
Hearing his name, Lusha turned his head toward Owen and asked.
“What is it, Lord?”
“Come here a moment.”
Owen beckoned with his finger.
Perplexed, Lusha walked over. Owen then raised his hand and pointed toward the lizard child.
“Lusha, do you know that ball the kid’s holding?”
Lusha followed the direction Owen indicated, then turned back with a confused expression.
“Of course. That’s just a child’s toy. Back in our village, many kids played with those bouncy balls.”
“Bouncy balls?”
Owen was taken aback.
Well, that was simply the lizardmen’s name for it. Quite vivid, nothing wrong with it.
“You mean, near your Sinking Sand Tribe’s village, there are raw materials for making these bouncy balls?”
“Yes.”
Lusha nodded.
“And there’s a lot. On the east bank of the Wen River, there’s an area where you can get this raw material.”
At that, Owen’s eyes lit up, and he quickly pressed further:
“This raw material—does it come from a kind of tree? If you cut a slit in the trunk with a knife, a milky-white liquid flows out, and you place a container underneath to collect it. That liquid is the raw material, isn’t it?”
Hearing such a detailed description, Lusha’s face showed astonishment.
“How do you know that? Did you witness us lizardmen extracting white sap from the White Sap Tree?”
White Sap Tree and White Sap—those were the lizardmen’s names.
“I haven’t seen it…”
Owen shook his head.
“I only read about something called rubber in a book.”
Once again, he used an old book as a cover. After all, Lusha had no way to verify what humans did or didn’t know.
“Rub…ber?”
Lusha repeated the strange word with difficulty.
“It’s just another name.”
Owen explained:
“We humans call your White Sap Tree the rubber tree, the white sap we call natural latex, and when that latex is processed into a solid elastic substance, it’s called natural rubber. For example, that ball I just asked you about.”
Could this really be true?
Viscount Jarvis, standing nearby, was also hearing about rubber for the first time, and he couldn’t help secretly marveling—Owen, so young, had broader knowledge than himself.
“I see.”
Lusha finally understood, then suddenly realized why Owen was asking him this.
“My lord, you mean to…”
“That’s right! Rubber is a very important raw material.”
Owen nodded firmly.
“I’ll need your people to collect large amounts of natural latex and transport it here. I’ll pay you a fair price for it.”
Rubber products had a wide range of industrial and everyday applications.
For instance, simply put, rubber could be made into erasers, used to rub out pencil marks on paper.
If they could produce a workable version, when the Gemini Chamber of Commerce came to pick up goods, he could market them to President Masha—selling them alongside pencils would surely do well.
In addition, rubber could be made into latex gloves.
With that protection, conducting chemical experiments in the laboratory would be much safer.
Of course, the uses of rubber went far beyond that—tires, insulation for wires, and so on, all things that would be useful in the future.
Just imagining it made Owen excited.
“Is it really such an important raw material?”
Lusha hadn’t expected Owen to value rubber so highly.
To them, it had always just been a common thing.
“Understood. I’ll send someone to inform Kerman right away and organize people to start tapping the White Sap.”
“Don’t rush.”
Owen raised his hand to stop him. “From your village to Bianshu Town, there isn’t even a proper road. Transporting it will take quite some time, and the natural latex might spoil on the way. Not only that, but your tapping techniques might also need some improvement.”
“You’re right, I was being hasty.”
After a pause, Lusha suggested, “As for the road, when the Sinking Sand Tribe relocates back in batches, we could take the opportunity to clear a simple dirt road.”
“That’s a good idea.”
Once that dirt road was finished, it would inevitably become an important trade route between the lizardmen settlement and Bianshu Town.
“By the way, how do you lizardmen use natural latex—what you call white sap?”
Owen suddenly asked out of curiosity.
“Us?”
Lusha scratched his head, thought for a moment, and replied.
“We usually use it as an adhesive to stick things together; also, we smear a layer on our rooftops, which works well against the rain. As for those bouncy balls, they’re made by mixing leftover white sap with other stuff and kneading it into a ball shape.”
“So simple and primitive.”
As expected, Owen wasn’t surprised at all.
The reason that bouncy ball was grey was probably because the lizardmen had mixed in all sorts of random materials.
A rubber forest on the east bank of the Wen River—that was truly exciting news. That place would surely become a major source of rubber in the future, with a steady supply transported to Bianshu Town for processing.
The Mysterious Forest really was a treasure trove, Owen couldn’t help but sigh.
At the same time, a doubt arose in his mind.
Based on the information Owen knew, rubber trees were typical tropical rainforest species, sun-loving plants that thrived in high temperatures, humidity, and sunlight.
Yet the climate where the Mysterious Forest was located clearly wasn’t suitable for rubber trees.
Considering the influence of magic in this world—since magical beasts could exist—perhaps the rubber trees in the Mysterious Forest were a unique species of this world that happened to produce natural latex, Owen guessed.
In any case, this was a good thing. The lizardmen needed to fully develop that rubber forest.
As for rubber matters, Owen and Lusha agreed to discuss them further the next afternoon, and he sent him back with his people.
Their tribe would also need to carefully discuss the relocation and come up with a complete plan.
Back in the castle office, Owen had barely sat down when he summoned the system, opened the folder, and found the book on rubber tapping techniques, flipping it open to read.
“So that’s how it should be done.”
Owen immediately took out pen and paper and began making notes.
When the time came, he would teach these advanced tapping methods to the lizardmen, who could then pass them on to the rest of their tribe. Only then could they collect natural latex more scientifically and effectively.
After finishing his notes, Owen remembered he had something to discuss with Winston. He raised his hand and pressed the emergency call.
【What do you need from me?】
Winston asked after the line connected.
Owen first explained about the rubber forest on the east bank of the Wen River, which left Winston astonished.
【What? There are rubber trees in the southwest forest? Be sure to transfer some raw material over—I’d like to study it.】
The growth environment was clearly different from the rubber trees in Winston’s region, so the natural latex produced might also be different.